


Catharsis

by Dau_hu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Ficlet, Fluff, Gift Fic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, One Shot, Season/Series 07, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 05:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15678546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dau_hu/pseuds/Dau_hu
Summary: A take on the resolution of some emotions from "The Journey Within" in Season 7. Lance looks back on what he lashed out at Keith for, and the two try to communicate their reasons.





	Catharsis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [1izardwizard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/1izardwizard/gifts).



> This is a gift for a close friend, but I hope you'll enjoy too.

Back and comfortable in the lions, the crew rode silently, reflecting on the delirium that they experienced together. The limbo brought out their worst, yet in a way it felt cathartic to have their thoughts unfiltered and expressed. 

Keith regained his leader resolve as he road in front of the pack, but to his surprise a wary voice came over the private comms line. 

“Hey…”Lance hesitantly whispered while looking clearly distressed. 

“Lance, you don’t have to report in. We’re back safe in the lions now,” Keith reassured him, but even he hadn’t fully recovered either. 

“No Keith, I just really wanted to say sorry about earlier.”  
Keith clearly flinched, remembering how Allura and Lance called him out for leaving the entire team for his time with the Blade of Marmora. A bit of anger surged inside again, but he was quelled by Lance’s gentle and caring demeanor. 

“It’s fine Lance, we all had our moment then. Just forget about it,” said Keith, ready to turn off the comms and focus on the mission at hand - he didn’t want to divulge all his demons that plagued him when he did leave the group. But just as his hands hovered over to close the tab, Lance calls out.

“Wait! You can’t keep doing this to us, Keith. Even with Acxa and even when we were stranded you threatened to leave us again,” Lance admitted quickly but softened and almost inaudibly mentioned, “Don’t you know how different it was without you around?” 

There was a heavy silence that hung around them as Keith stared at Lance. He realized that he had truly been caught up with the missions with the Blade-- after all, the universe is at stake. After much thought, Keith breathed deeply to finally answer Lance. 

“Look Lance, after I had selfishly failed to lead Voltron and Shiro’s sudden return, I couldn’t help but feel unfit to even pilot the Black Lion or stay. The Blades were the only way for me to really make a difference back then,” Keith admitted. 

“But Keith, you don’t understand, we needed you even if you weren’t leader material then … I needed you,” Lance mumbled while looking away, “and to be honest, you came back an even better leader."

Keith stared longingly at Lance, moved by the rare appreciation for his efforts, especially from the pilot of the Blue Lion. 

“Thank you, Lance,” Keith genuinely said as he inherently smiled and was met by the Lance’s knowing smile, and they knew they had gotten their message across to one another.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Maybe I'll turn this into a ficlet collection, or just write more in general :)


End file.
